moths wings
by glitter cordite
Summary: III. The next time she'd see him would be from the other side. vignette collection/ratings may vary
1. covert

**dedication**: to kat, because she's the reason i started writing these two dipshits.

**because**: i couldn't bring myself to make _verisimilitude_ multiship. thus, another vignette collection was born.

**disclaimer**: all i own is a lot of coffee and my weight in makeup.

* * *

"Y'know,"

the petite blonde began, rough voice clashing with her languid posture.

"If we're gonna keep this up, you've really gotta be a little more discreet."

Arms flung high above her head, the young woman arched upwards, muscles lengthening, forcing a breath from her small chest. The boy next to her watched appreciatively, head turned to the side so emerald eyes could track her lithe form. As she came down, damp back falling lightly against the grass, he smiled and rolled, lazily reaching for the smaller girl.

"I'm more than discreet enough!"

A calloused hand snaked underneath her ribcage,

"I mean, no one's caught us yet, yeah?"

Fair eyebrows raised and Annie pushed him away, sitting up before he could protest and pulling her hoodie off. Eren slid closer and propped himself up on both elbows, watching appreciatively as the blonde flung the garment towards their feet, swept her (loose, for once!) hair out of the way and pointed accusingly at the base of her neck.

Slightly confused (and not-so-slightly disappointed that she had left her tight grey bindings on), Eren glanced towards her finger and felt a crooked smirk spread across his face.

"Oh come on Leondhart, that's no sooo bad!"

The blonde titan shifter narrowed her eyes,

"Oh it is so. And you had better watch yourself in the future or so help me I-"

The hotheaded boy sat up and rubbed his thumb over the lewd, red bite mark.

"No one's gonna notice that at all, you're being hypercritical."

Baby blues narrowed, and Annie felt the still-new-to-her tingle that accompanied Eren's close proximity. The foreign, but not-quite-unwelcome feeling intensified as chapped lips pressed against the bruise, dry heat dissipating as he pulled away, arms around her middle. She didn't know when they had gotten so close, but she did know that the smug glint in her partner's eyes was intolerable.

So she punched him.

In the solar plexus.

"See if they won't notice _that_ Jaeger!"


	2. cold

**because:** when i'm forced to be morning person, i write out of spite.

**for: **giselle, as per usual!

* * *

The first time they kissed was anything but romantic. It was a cold, clear night in their third year of training, all numb fingers and wind burnt cheeks. The kind of cold that made even the mess hall look a little appealing. The ground was hard with permafrost, crunching beneath leather boots like bones. (_Or dreams_, Annie thought morbidly.

Silhouetted against the sun's last hurrah stood the barracks, low and squat, casting their turgid light and sending the boisterous noise of her comrades floating on the wind.

Standing just a few paces off from the smells and pollution of light was Annie, hood up head down and shoulders squared against the (_world_) cold. Her small frame, so easily lost in shadow, stood starkly against the dead grass, caught brightly by the harsh light of the moon.

It was better outside. Outside there was no crush of bodies, no greasy scent on the air. No smoke caught in her lungs, nothing to breathe but the painfully cold air and the stars. There were no girls trying to get her to talk, or dark boys watching. (_Always_ watching.) Outside she could think.

The moon hung high above her (_it was nearly full, wasn't it?_) cool and bright and heralding snow with a hazy circle shining around it. Annie smiled at it and let her mind wander towards brighter things.

(_Things she only dared think about when the moon was up and her guards were down._)

There was one trainee who intoxicated the young Leonhart even more than the rank liquor Reiner snuck into the barracks.

But, like always, she tried not to think about him (_green eyes, wild heart, don't go too close or you'll want him to be yours._) and instead focused on how the cold air smelled like freedom, or how the stars winked at her like a thousand little lies.

And even she would have to admit it was working fairly well too, until (in a way that was just so infuriatingly _Eren_.) he had to show up.

"Hey, Annie!"

The Jaeger boy greeted her with a smile and a brief wave, before rushing his hand back into the cloistered warmth of his sleeve.

_Don't look, don't look maybe he'll go awa_-

A nod, "Jaeger."

The wind picked up again, whipping around and between them with its icy, free fingers. The blonde fought back a shiver and snuck a glance at her companion. (_When had he gotten so close anyways? She felt that if she just shifted ever so slightly to the left their shoulders could bru-_ no.) Grudgingly though, she did admit that moonlight became him. The cold, clear light threw his face into relief and made those goddamned eyes of his practically shine. It was counterintuitive too, for one who burned so hot. You'd think he'd be a creature of the sun.

But then again, she burned hot too, and with no question, she was a monster of the night.

(_Or rather, a warrior_.)

"Annie, lets spar."

Startled by the sudden break of silence, the fair girl nearly jumped, before fixing him with one of her best glares.

"Eren, it's the middle of the night. We can spar tomorrow."

"But it's cold!"

"So take your pansy ass back to the barracks."

"I'd rather fight you instead."

Eyes locked and Annie pulled back her hood, squaring her jaw and setting her stance. Fine, if he wanted to spar, they would spar. But she was going to win.

Grinning, the boy across from her backpedaled until there was a reasonable distance between them. Locking eyes again, there was a moment where it was still save for the wind- each frozen in their defensive stance, waiting for the moment to brea- with a flurry of cold hands and blonde hair, Annie launched herself across the field. Fingers coming to strike at a pressure point in his armpit. Just barely dodging, Eren retaliated by forcing his elbow up and clipping her jaw. Earning a snarl in return, he parried her next strike with a forearm and used the strength in his legs to send her flying.

Feral grin firmly in place, Annie lifted herself off the cold ground just enough to slide one leg out and rest her weight on its bent counterpart as Eren charged again. Waiting until he was just close enough, she braced herself against bent forearms and used her outstretched leg to sweep his feet out from under him. Swearing profusely as he fell, Eren barely had time to register the surprisingly heavy weight that landed on his chest. But when the stars cleared from his eyes he was met with a pair of baby blues so cold they looked nearly silver in the moonlight.

Teeth bared, the blonde brought her elbow up in preparation to strike, his sternum in her sights. With a monumental effort, the hotheaded boy braced one arm against the frosty ground and managed to flip them, caging the small girl beneath him as her small form crashed into the hard soil.

Green met blue in a furious glare, and Eren was taken back for just a second by the way her cheeks flushed against the cold, and how the tips of her hair had gained a fine layer of frost, turning the already flaxen hue white.

Before he could end the fight, he was caught off guard by a small, hot mouth pressed against his own, moving and coaxing him until he could _feel_ his blood rushing in his head.

And then he was flipped, head crashing into a frost heave as the girl now straddling his waist grinned victoriously.

"One, two, three. I win Jaeger. Take that and shove it up your as-"

"You kissed me."

Annie shot him a flat look, eyebrows raised incredulously.

"You pinned me. So?"

And then she was picking herself up. Dusting the frost and dirt and him from her as if it were nothing.

And he supposed maybe it was nothing. But as she offered him one delicate hand, he couldn't help but remember the press of her mouth against his own.

Shaking his head, he stretched his hands up over his head, and watched the snow begin to fall.

Tomorrow the ground would be covered in a clean blanket of white, like a fresh start.


	3. (no) good

**because**: I apparently can't not write smut for anything I ship.

* * *

Annie thought that maybe in a different world they could have been lovers. Actual lovers, with memories and anniversaries and a _future_. The kind that washed the blood off of each others hands and kissed before missions. But as calloused fingers ripped her shirt off over her head, and teeth drug down her sternum she knew that that was simply not an option for them. (And it probably never had been.)

Hands pinned high above her head, she writhed as his lips went lower, pressing and sucking against her smooth abdomen. He smirked against the soft skin, and she felt as if a million butterflies had erupted in her stomach. One rough palm slid down her arm, coming to stop behind her shoulder blades, pressing her upwards as his lips worried her breasts through her bindings. A knee pressed hard between her legs and she felt the butterflies turn to fire, forcing a hot snarl through her lips as she ground against him desperately.

She still didn't know how they had wound up in this room, limbs tangled and hearts racing. Everyone was rattled, at best. But still the fact that she had found him, her maybe lover, at all was something indeed.

The Legion had a tight grip on him, after all.

The man above her demanded attention, fingers sliding deep inside and snapping her out of her thoughts.

They could have been so much. They could have been in love, they could have seen the sea. But here they were instead, pseudo fucking in some nameless barrack, relegated to nothing more than emotional releases and what ifs.

_I cheated myself._ She thought as a cry escaped her thin lips, Eren's teeth against her hipbone. _like I knew I would._

Pants were discarded completely, and the blonde fought back a whine as he finally took her in full. His head dropped, hair tickling her neck and chest as lips found her pulse point, pressing a soft kiss before biting, the movement familiar and rough.

(he bit her as if he knew, knew that she was a loose canon, knew what she hid inside.)

Hands clenched against nothing as her back arched again, hips angling to pull him deeper. "Faster." She snarled, and the titan shifter above her obeyed, rocking into her with increased intensity.

_I told you I was trouble._

As they both lay panting in the aftermath, she took a second to memorize the way this felt, to be _with_ someone (_him_ to be with him). To have slick skin pressed against her own, warm and oddly comforting. How it felt to have his steady breathing at her neck, rhythmic and soft, belying the beast she knew he hid within. Her fingers tingled slightly as they drew up his back, tracing along his erector spini until she could cradle his head in her hands, rubbing gently into his scalp. He sighed and melted into her, pressing a kiss against her neck.

(Somewhere, subconsciously, she knew they'd probably never be together like this again.)

It hurt (hurt because it was _right there_. Everything she couldn't have because of a war she had inherited.). And there was no use in prolonging pain, even if the pros were nearly worth the cons.

So she took a deep breath and pulled away, trying her damnedest not to look at him. If she didn't acknowledge the pain in his eyes, maybe he wouldn't see the pain (fear, desperation, _loneliness_) in hers. It was fucked up, and it wasn't the choice she wanted to make. But she was a warrior, and warriors didn't _have_ a choice. So she dressed in silence, throwing her harnessing over one shoulder to pull damp hair back.

Nauseous and sad, she cast one glance back at the man she'd come to almost-love. He sat with his back against the wall, fists clenched in his lap as he watched her go.

The next time she'd see him would be from the other side.

_You know that I'm no good._


End file.
